Archive for amaretto glaze

I can never slip through duty free without maximising my alcohol allowance. Having nearly completed my collection of Absolut vodkas (just have pepper and pear to go, I think!), I decided to get something a little different this time and landed on a bottle of Amaretto instead.

We love this stuff, and could probably finish most of it drunk neat. However man decided to have it with orange juice last night, which set me on a boozy cake mission!

I found a recipe for Bermudian Rum Cake in my Greyston Bakery Cookbook and this morning set about making Italian Amaretto Muffins!

Ingredients:

1/2 C finely chopped pecans

1 C plain flour + pinch of salt

3/4 C caster sugar

11/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 milk

1/4 orange juice (we had orange and mango juice)

1/4 vegetable oil

2 eggs, lightly beaten

2 tsp grated orange zest

3 tbsp Amaretto

Method:

Heat oven to 180C, line 9 muffin cups and fill the empty muffin-holes with hot water.

Whisk together flour, salt, sugar and baking powder in a large bowl.

Combine wet ingredients with orange zest and mix into the flour mixture.

Fill muffin cups 3/4 full and top with finely chopped pecans.

Bake for 20 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes in tin then remove muffins from tin and place on a wire rack over newspaper/plate. Prick holes in muffins and pour 2 tbsp glaze on each muffin (letting muffin absorb glaze bit by bit, or it’ll just run over the muffin and your beautiful Amaretto will go to waste!).

Glaze:

Melt 3 tbsp butter in a pan, add 1/4 C brown sugar and 1 tbsp water and bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer while stirring continuously for 5 minutes. Stir in 2 tbsp Amaretto and set aside.

These muffins rise beautifully and are really quite nice eaten warm, and man will proudly attest to that having just given it the thumbs up. I imagine a little shot of Amaretto or spiced rum on the side wouldn’t go amiss either. Perhaps a dollop of cream spiked with Cointreau or rum, as suggested by the original recipe? Mmm…